Whitewashed villas face the Ionian sea in scenic Santa Caterina, a vibrant seaside small town. Pizzerias and all-night bars line the streets near the sandy beach, where kayaking and sailing is popular.
The small rocky platforms dotted along the coastline allow residents and tourists to lay down their towels and have a dip.
I come here quite often and take a lilo with me, so I spend a few hours in the water, with the rest of the crew snugly laid down on our floating beds.
The nestled location of these spots keep the lazy crowd away, but the scarcity of them makes you fight for it. It gets crowded pretty early in the day in summer, and there’s limited space.
I grew into the habit of coming here around 5pm to have my daily swim, so that I can then climb up to the watchtower to enjoy the most evocative sunset you can get in all Salento.
Santa Caterina is built on heights.
Along the coast you can find two beautiful ancient watchtowers – one named Torre di Santa Caterina and the other one, the biggest is Torre dall’Alto. They both face south towards Gallipoli and they were used to guard over the sea.
To reach Torre dall’Alto, it’s a quick trek uphill, on a staircase that goes through healthy wild vegetation. The tower is a military building that overlooks the entire bay.
On the tower’s right hand side, tread carefully to spot a hole in the rocks, by the edge of the cliff. That’s the Rupe della Dannata — The Damned Cliff, an overhung cliff that takes its name after the unfortunate story of a girl.
Legend has it that a young lady, who wanted to elude “ius primae noctis” imposed by Guercio delle Puglie (1600-1665 – he’s the same guy that, by accident, invented the notorious Trullo), decided to jump off this very cliff, taking her own life.
Driving from the mainland, soon before Santa Caterina you’ll enter the historical hamlet of Le Cenate, swarmed with villas. This is a triumph of the eclecticism, which is an assortment of styles that blend together Moorish, Art Nouveau, Neoclassicism and Neo-Gothic. Bell towers, large terraces, pine forest around them, arches and monumental staircases, some even have private churches. They made me stop and glance through the gate to fantasise about their past life a few times.
To sum it up, one of my favourite itineraries here is to arrive when the crowd is about to leave, 5pm, and have a swim while the air cools down.
Then walked up to the Torre dall’Alto, for a mindful experience, where you can encounter other people practicing yoga or meditation, or simply enjoying a cold beer while looking at the sun setting beyond the horizon, with the Porto Selvaggio bay stretching on your right.
While just a few hours like these feel quite reductive and not that eventful, I can not think of a better way to finish any summer day.
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